1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to stands for supporting and actuating percussion instruments, and more particularly to a support apparatus for mounting a second percussion instrument, such as a pair of cymbals, to a conventional stand for a first percussion instrument, such as a pair of cymbals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pairs of cymbals or so-called "high hats" are commonly used by musicians, especially drummers. The high hats are mounted on a vertical stand and have foot operated means to vertically displace the upper cymbal of the pair into and out of contact with the lower cymbal. "High hats" are usually used in conjunction with other musical instruments such as various types of drums and also various types of single cymbals, each mounted singularly on a stand. A bass drum, beaten by a foot actuated pedal beater, controlled by the musician's foot, is one type of drum instrument which is commonly played simultaneously with high hats.
Stands for supporting and actuating a single pair of cymbals are disclosed for example, by Ross, U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,014, by Meazzi et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,305, by Blumenfeld, U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,239 and by Thompson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,068. In general, such stands consist of an upstanding tube supported by foldable legs in the form of a tripod, a springloaded pull rod guided within the tube and extending above the tube, and foot actuated means for longitudinally oscillating the pull rod. The bottom half of a cymbal pair is mounted stationarily on the upper end of the tube, and the upper cymbal of the pair is detachably connected to the rod so that when the rod is vertically oscillated within the tube, the cymbals are brought into and out of contact with each other.
A disadvantage of the known supporting and actuating mechanisms for "high hats" is that only one pair of cymbals can be played at a time. This limits the range of sounds which can be created by the musician, especially since only one foot is available to play the "high hat"; the other foot of course being used to play the base drum. Alternatively, if two separate high hats were mounted on individual stands, they would be very difficult and awkward to operate by one foot.
A stand for mounting a plurality of stationary percussion instruments is disclosed by Cohen U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,363. This stand consists generally of a multi-segmented rod which telescopes within an upstanding tube. Instruments, such as single cymbals, can be sandwiched between the adjacent segments of the rod. A horizontally disposed bar is mounted on the telescoping rod, and additional vertical rods for supporting individual instruments such as drums cymbals, temple block, and cow bells, in turn can be mounted on the horizontal rod. This particular stand has the obvious disadvantage of not enabling the musician to play instruments which must be displaced or shaken such as "high hats" or tambourines.